Thank you so much for all your opinions and weigh in options on my last post on what I should do in my eat-in-kitchen/breakfast area in my kitchen. I am currently in the midst of a kitchen makeover which of course sort of extends into the attached breakfast area. The kitchen has almost been completely transformed with new beautiful laminate countertops that we installed ourselves, a DIY beadboard backsplash, adding beadboard to the back of the bar area, adding a new light fixture so I was also wanting to make a bit of a change in this area as well.
What I had hope to change was the color below the chair rail. I just was wanting something a bit cooler in color and more neutral. I had a few options I discussed in this post – remove the chair rail and paint the walls completely with the upper color (Wheat Bread by Behr), leave the chair rail and still paint the lower half the same color, or find a different color for the bottom half. I didn’t want to go with the color one down on the paint chip because it had a lot of green in it and I was wanting a neutral color. And I tried painting the same color below the chair rail and it just was a bit too bland for me – might be because I am just used to a darker color being there.
Here’s the before…
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So here’s what I chose! It’s called Creek Bend by Behr (790F-4) in eggshell finish.
In person it is much more of a brownish/gray taupe than it is looking in these pictures. This is a bit more accurate.
It looks great with the countertops! (Whoops looks like I forgot to touch up this side of the door frame…)
And you might have noticed another change…
There’s a new light fixture! I had picked up this light fixture a while back at a yard sale for I think $8.00? It was already this dark brown finish and I loved it. I had wanted to use it in the kitchen BUT I didn’t measure and this was one was just too big/would hang down too low even if I used only 1-2 links of chain for my 8 foot ceilings. BUT it is perfect over the table! I saved the other one and will probably put it back up and take this one with us if/when we move because this one is the farmhouse look that I love! The other one had a yellowish glass shade that made everything look very yellow in the room and this one is nice, clear, bright light. I actually had to change out all the bulbs to 25w bulbs because it was so bright in here with the new kitchen light and this light.
Here’s a few more pictures of the new color.
I know that some of you may have chosen a color or a warmer color but I am just drawn to cooler/lighter colors and I love neutrals so that I can decorate around them however I want. I can use yellow now, orange for fall, red for Christmas, teal during the summer and it all goes with the wall colors and some of my other more permanent décor.
Just for fun let’s go back and look at how this are has looked through the years… (No counting the number of paint colors on the wall through the years. 
I think this room has been repainted more than any other room.)
Here’s pretty much what it looked like when we moved in and for a year or so after. The walls are all painted in Classic Taupe by Behr (290E-6).
Then I added the chair rail and painted the lower half green -Mother Nature by Behr (410F-4) and top of walls stayed Classic Taupe by Behr (290E-6). We also changed out the light fixture and had ceramic tile installed. Oh and bought a kitchen table set off Craigslist!
Then my love of neutrals was just starting to begin and my decorating style was STARTING to get better (I think Pinterest had finally been invented ) and I painted the bottom half of the walls Belgian Sweet by Behr (700D-6).
Then it was time to repaint the main color in our house (it desperately needed to be done after 11 years!) and I changed this to our main home color which is Wheat Bread by Behr (720C-3). Bottom half of walls stayed Belgian Sweet by Behr (700D-6).
And here’s how it is today…
I would like to tackle refinishing the chairs and table next, but sanding/staining/painting around all those chair rails is a bit intimidating – any tips?
Disclosure: Thanks to Behr for supplying the paint for this project. But all opinions and paint color choices are all mine.
LOVE it! And yes, it works SO well with the counters. I was uncomfortable with those colors in my home at first, but now I’m blending camels and greys (heavy on the grey) all over my house right now … and LOVE it! And your change in light fixture is beautiful. Thank you for keeping us realistically inspired!
Love the new paint color, Christina!! It not only looks great with the new counters, it totally transformed the kitchen area! Can’t wait to see full reveal…..
Blessings,
Lanita
The new color looks great and that light fixture is gorgeous! You have the greatest luck at finding gems!!
I just love your taste and decorating style! Looks great!
Your kitchen looks amazing!
Looks beautiful. I love it. Think doing the table and chair would be an excellent choice.
Christina it looks lovely and very happy…I love it.
http://frugaliciouschick.blogspot.com
Christina,
I love all the changes you have made. The colors are awesome. you did an awesome job. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Meloni!
Wow Christina! I love how the two colors tie into your new countertops beautifully! Love, love, love your new light fixture!
Thanks for including the “before” pictures as it’s nice to see (and remember) the transformation.
I know – I just love it! It gives off so much better light too. And yes the before/after pictures are so fun! I just found old copies of our house before we moved in – I thought I had lost them. I hope to do a full before/after post with those pictures and our house now once I finish up a few projects. I LOVE seeing how far it has come. Can be encouraging when you think you haven’t made progress.
Looks great!! I love your new light.
Happy weekend!!
Sherri
thanks, Sherri! I can’t believe I didn’t think about using that light there when it wouldn’t work in the ktichen! 🙂 Sometimes focusing on a room and trying to clear out the “extra” stuff in the garage gives you all kinds of new ideas! 🙂
Love the changes and that light fixture is awesome!! Definitely a keeper.
If you were to repaint the chairs and table a simple scrape and scuff with rough sandpaper should be enough to get the new paint to adhere. As for the re-staining – that’s relatively easy considering the massive dresser undertakings you have already completed.
Have you invested in a Dremel Multi Tool? Perhaps with all the projects you love to do, a Dremel will come in handy. A Dremel will get the crevices and small spaces.
Keep them coming, this frugal homemaker seeks your inspiring posts.
I am just nervous about the sanding/painting/staining around all those chair rails – agh! The table top should be easy. My husband has a Dremel Trio so I will have to see if that has an attachment to help me sand around the chair rails – thanks for the suggestion. IF worse comes to worse and I just can’t get it sanded enough to take new stain on the seats I will just paint the chairs all white.
Take the word EAT down and put up Family in script in black. It will be a softer look. You have done a great job with this. I just saw your updated version as it is years later.